Templeton, UBS, others buy Citigroup's stake in HDFC

MUMBAI: Citigroup, the global bank shoring up capital, sold its entire stake in HDFC for $1.9 billion, or Rs 9,300 crore, through block deals on the National Stock Exchange ( NSE) to many funds including UBS and Templeton, ending nearly a six-year courtship as investments more than doubled.

The firm sold its 9.85% in India's largest mortgage lender at an average of Rs 658 apiece, realising an after-tax gain of approximately $722 million, or Rs 3,550 crore, Citi said in a statement.

"The sale of Citi's remaining stake in HDFC is part of Citi's ongoing capital planning efforts," it said in the statement. HDFC's shares fell 3.6% to Rs 676.40.

Oppenheimer, Waddell & Reed, UBS, Vontobel and Templeton were among the buyers of Citi's stake in HDFC, the transaction managed by Citi's investment banking unit, said people familiar with the deal. Citi's sale of its stake in HDFC is the biggest domestic share sale in almost a year.

Earlier this month, private equity firm Carlyle sold a quarter of its stake in the mortgage company through block deals that aggregated Rs 1,354 crore. Around the same time, Warburg Pincus sold about 1.75 crore shares in Kotak Mahindra Bank for about Rs 875 crore.

In another deal, Singapore government's Temasek Holdings sold shares worth about Rs 1,500 crore in India's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank. The stake sales have come amid a rebound in shares of financial companies in anticipation of a cut in interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India.